Documented Methods of Torture and Ill-Treatment

General Comments:

Branch 285 is part of the complex housing the General
Intelligence Directorate Administrative Branch. According to a defector from
Branch 285, the detention center is located under a garage. There are five
floors above ground and two underground. The five floors above the ground are
offices. On the underground floors there are interrogation rooms and about
250 solitary confinement cells. There were 17 interrogation rooms, but then
the number increased. There are also five large group cells on each floor. The
entrance is located on the ground floor. The defector estimated that there
might have been 1,500 detainees in Branch 285.[139]
A former detainee said that he was kept in a cell measuring about 25 square
meters together with 74 other detainees.[140]

Statements by victims and eyewitnesses:

We detained men there and some children aged 13 and
older. I myself probably arrested 40 children who attended demonstrations.
There were maybe 1,500 detainees there, coming and going.

They would torture with electricity. They would tie
someone on an all-metal military bed and electrocute the bed or put water on
the floor and make the person lie on top of it and use the electricity. I would
sometimes go into the interrogation rooms, although I was not usually there,
and this is where I would see this [torture in general] … [another method was]
they would make the detainee, with his hands tied by his head, and a metal pole
sticking out of the wall digging into his back, stand on the wall. It causes
pain to the back. Sometimes they would leave them naked, and the usual slaps
and punches. You would see detainees passing out from this …

The order [to interrogate] is irrelevant. You understand
from the people around you what you are supposed to do. No one says, “Why are
you shooting.” They say, “Shoot!” If you don’t beat or torture you fear for
yourself. One time someone said to me, “Why aren’t you beating him. Hit him.” I
didn’t want to defect. My dad told me to. The things he was seeing, I wasn’t
seeing [while I was serving].

—Twenty-four-year old Fakhri,who
used to serve in Branch 285 before he defected.[141]

***

They didn’t ask any questions, but started torturing me
right away. They took me underground, blindfolded and handcuffed. Once I
stepped into a room, somebody kicked me from behind. I fell. They started
beating me with everything they could find – sticks, cables, their fists, and
legs. It lasted for about an hour. Afterwards, they took me to a different room
for interrogation.

They asked me why I protested, what did I want. I didn’t
tell them anything. An officer ordered a soldier to give me electric shocks.
They sat me down. I was still blindfolded, but I could see under the blindfold
that they put a clip on my left big toe. I then lost consciousness immediately.

—Twenty-seven-year-old Firas, who was detained
on July 7 and spent 23 days in detention in Branch 285.[142]

Location:

Documented Methods of Torture and Ill-Treatment

General Comments:

The Al-Khattib branch consists of three buildings. At
least one of the buildings has an underground detention facility consisting
of seven common and four individual cells

Statements by victims and eyewitnesses:

I was called out for interrogation twice. The
interrogation room was on the second floor. Everybody beat us up on the way. We
were still blindfolded. During the interrogation I sat on my knees. They were
punching and kicking me everywhere. It was more of an accusation than
interrogation. On the way back they made me roll down the stairs. If they
didn’t like it, they made me do it again.

—Thirty-year-old Bassam, who was detained just
before a protest in Damascus in mid-July.[144]

***

All night and day we heard the sounds from men being
tortured. One person who helped organizing protests was forced to stand on his
knees the entire time in the prison cell. During the investigation they
threatened me that they would strip my clothes off and torture me with the dulab.
We didn’t know what time it was so we couldn’t know when prayer time was. We
couldn’t sleep because of the sounds of torture. The other girl with us in the
prison cell told me that they slapped her several times and kicked her in the
stomach.

I saw security forces slapping a 12 year old boy in the
corridor. They also brought him to say that he saw us at the protest. But the
boy swore that he has never seen us before; they believed him. [T]he cells are
very close to each other and there was a peephole I used so I could see what
was happening outside.

—Twenty-five-year-old Marwa [woman], who was
arrested with her friend near a demonstration in Damascus in January 2012.[145]

***

When we arrived at the Al-Khattib branch we saw men
blindfolded, being tortured. I saw blood on the floor. They put us in a room
and then a woman came and searched us after she ordered us to take off our
clothes. We were three girls in the room. The first night there was no
interrogation.

We could see the rooms around us because there was a
small peephole with a net. We lost track of time. We were able to see how guys
were being beaten and interrogated. Some men were not wearing any clothes and
they were sitting in a prayer position. It was unbelievable how they were
beating them with the electrical batons.

The next day they took us separately to see the
interrogator. I was the first one to go. The interrogator asked me again to confess
and give the names of my friends. If I did, he said, he would let me go right
away. They took the details of my Facebook account and started to search it. He
saw that I was friends with one guy from Hama and started asking me questions
about him. He asked me how I knew him and what was going on between the two of
us. I explained we were only friends. Then he ordered me to tell him the guy’s
real name or else he would use the falaqa. Then he asked me if I’m a
conservative or liberal, I told him I am neither this nor that. Then he asked
me if the guy from Hama belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood. I told him of course
he does not.

After he finished we went back to the room with my friend
and the other girl. While we were in the room we heard someone screaming from
the outside because he was in agonizing pain. He confessed the names of five of
his friends. The same guy was brought in to the interrogation room and the
interrogator asked him if he saw me at the protest and he said yes. They took
the third girl for interrogation; we started hearing a woman screaming. We
asked her when she came back but she said it wasn’t her who was screaming. They
were beating a child who was at the protest. It was I think the same child that
the interrogator brought in and asked if he saw me at the protest. He said he
didn’t see us.

While we were there they brought in more than 50
detainees. On Friday they made us fingerprint a piece of paper that said we
were in a protest chanting sectarian slogans, that we cursed the President and
demanded the overthrow of the regime, and that we carried posters for the FSA.
I fingerprinted the paper and two other blank ones.

—Twenty-two-year old Selma [woman], arrested
with her friend in Damascus.[146]

Officers in charge of facility:

Location:

Coordinates: 35.529572N, 35.803867E

Documented Methods of Torture and Ill-Treatment

Beating; electrocution.

Statements by victims and eyewitnesses:

I was on my knees in
the interrogation room. I felt two people beating me. They were kicking and
slapping me. The interrogator said there were witnesses against me saying that
I organized demonstrations. He was saying that I encourage people to go out and
demonstrate. I said no. They put me to one side and brought in another guy who
came and said I paid him to go to demonstrations. I didn’t recognize his voice.
I signed a white paper saying I will not go to demonstrations or say Allahu
Akbar. I was in detention for 15 days. I was in a solitary cell and didn’t see
anyone.

[There were kids there] and they were beating them. I
heard them saying, “We don’t know, uncle.” One sounded like he could have been
13 years old.

They used electricity on me in places I can’t talk about.
They did it more than once. This was in the interrogation room. Every day there
was an interrogation. Their questions were based on my answers. They wanted me
to work with them but I refused and that’s when they used the electricity.

—Twenty-eight-year-old Malik, who was detained
in Latakia in late April 2011 and kept in detention for 15 days.[149]

Location:

General Comments:

Underground.

Documented Methods of Torture and Ill-Treatment

Beating; beating with object; falaqa; electrocution; balanco.

Statements by victims and eyewitnesses:

They took
me to the State Security branch where they took my clothes off. My hands were
tied with plastic cuffs behind my back. I was naked sitting on my knees. We
were underground. They were beating me with their hands, and batons, and kicks.
There were also people next to me being beaten.

There was one child who was eight years old who was with us and he was
being beaten. I heard the soldiers asking each other, “Where is the kid?” He
was in the mosque with us when we were picked up. As they were putting us in
the van one of the security officers said to the driver [talking about the
boy], “This one is a gift for you today.” I don’t know what happened to him.

They
separated us by neighborhood. Those from Hama and Homs got the worst treatment.
There was no food there. The next day they took me to [another facility].

—Twenty-three-year-old Suleiman, a student at
Aleppo University, who was detained in August 2011 at a mosque.[151]

***

The interrogator accused me of being associated with
“terrorists.” I denied it. He also wanted me to confess to being the organizer
of demonstrations. I refused. Then another person entered the room and started
beating me with a whip. A third person joined. They pushed me on the floor,
made me raise my feet, and started beating me on the soles of my feet. After
half an hour they took me back to the cell, saying I should think about what to
say. They beat me like this two more times before they put me in a car and took
me to the Air Force Intelligence branch.

Location:

Documented Methods of Torture and Ill-Treatment

Statements by victims and eyewitnesses:

They asked me if I went to demonstrations and I said,
“Yes”. They asked how many, and I said, “A lot”. They didn’t beat me. They
tried to discuss with me. I was blindfolded and there were three interrogators.
During the interrogation my hands were tied.

The fourth day I went to interrogation and they started
asking me about photos, I said no, I didn’t take photos, and he said they had someone
who had informed on me. They started giving me names and I said no I didn’t
know the people and they said in that case I would confess in their way.

Four of them were hitting me. They were hitting me on my
feet from above, on my toes with a wooden baton. Another was hitting me with an
electric baton and the other two were hitting me with their hands. I fell on
the ground. I didn’t confess.

Then they tied my hands to a point high above my head. I
could stand, but my hands were above my head. I was standing like this for four
hours. I had to stand on one leg. When I lowered a foot they beat me. I was
blindfolded.

Then they took me to a torture room, to give me electric
shocks. They beat me with a whip and electrocuted my toes. I didn’t confess to
anything. If you don’t answer a question they shock you. It was like this for
six hours every day. On the eleventh day there was a new interrogator who
placed me on the ground, tied my hands, and beat me. He had a whip. My eyes
were blindfolded. He was sitting on a chair and I was under him. He beat me with
the metal whip on the bottom of my feet and on my thighs, and also above … He
pulled me by my toes. I thought, I’ve reached the end. He pulled my beard with
pliers, pulled my nails. Half of the nail is still gone. Then they took me and
hung be in the shabeh position from the door for six or seven hours.
They threatened to bring my mom and my younger brothers. I didn’t confess to
anything except for going to demonstrations.

—Tarik, who used to photograph demonstrations
and was arrested in Idlib on August 27 and spent 24 days in the General
Intelligence branch in Idlib.[154]

Officers in charge of facility:

Location:

Coordinates: 34.734963N, 36.698434E

Documented methods of torture and ill-treatment:

Beating; beating with object.

Statements by victims and eyewitnesses:

Three guards took me to a cell and started beating me on
the back, asking me what types of weapon we had and where we got them from.
When I asked “what weapons?” they beat me again. Eventually I started agreeing
to everything, to save my life. There was no place on my body that had not been
beaten. They beat me with batons and cables. I would have agreed to owning a
tank.

—Assi, who was arrested in Homs on July 1,
2011, and was kept in detention in the General Intelligence branch in Homs for
six days.[157]

***

There were many detainees with me. They were beating us
on the head with the butt of their rifles. I couldn’t move my legs for ten days
after I was released. I was in a cell measuring three by three meters with 40
detainees. It was so crowded we had to take turns sleeping. They made me
fingerprint a document, but I didn’t see what was written on it. I stayed in
this place for two months.

—Chafik, who was arrested near the town of
Talbiseh in April 2011.[158]

***

They interrogated me the same day that I arrived but they
already had all the information from the interrogations in the last branch in
front of them. They were asking me questions and hitting me with the electrical
cables on my back. They put me in a bigger individual cell. There were around
12 people in it. I stayed there for seven to eight days with nobody
interrogating me. There was one guy with me in the cell who suffocated and
died. It was very dark and speaking was prohibited. When we couldn’t breathe
anymore we would hit on the door really hard until one of the officers opens
the door for a couple of minutes and then closes it again.

When they took me for interrogation I saw around 14 men
standing in the corridor and officers were hitting them with the back of their
guns. They used the balanco … with which they would hang me from the
feet and my head down and they would beat me. He asked me the same questions.
When he finished they took me to the cell.

—Twenty-five-year-old Ziad, who was detained
on June 25 2011 and released on November 12, 2011.[159]

[135] Human Rights Watch interview with Fakhri, January 11,
2012. The Council of the European Union imposed travel restrictions and an
asset freeze on Ali Mamlouk (also spelled Mamluk) on May 9, 2011, for being
“involved in the violence against demonstrators” in Syria. Council Regulation
(EU) No 442/2011 of 9 May 2011.

[136] Human Rights Watch interviewed three people who
suffered or witnessed torture in this facility.